Andasibe Mantadia National Park: Meet the World's Biggest Lemur

With its powerful cry, the Indri Indri, a flagship species of the Andasibe Mantadia National Park, is classified as "the largest lemur in the world". With its length that can reach 70 cm, a silky black and white coat and the appearance of a teddy bear without tail, it is locally named "babakoto" (Koto's ancestor).

 

The characteristic cry of Indri Indri regularly echoes around this site, which is dedicated to conservation. It can be heard within a radius of 2km and it is a means of communication and warning between the different families. Several local stories portray this lemur as a sacred animal. An annual festival is dedicated to him.

 

If you would like to meet this endemic animal, Andasibe Mantadia National Park can be found 135 km off the capital, via the RN2. Covering an area of 16,354 ha, the park is. in fact. composed of two distinct national parks: Analamazoatra and Mantadia, two biodiversity treasures managed by Madagascar National Parks.

Andasibe (where the two parks meet), is a traditional village located at the heart of the tropical forest covering the Ankeniheny-Zahamena corridor. In the past, this village was a major economic centre along the railway line linking Antananarivo to Toamasina. Andasibe and its vicinity is also characterized by the presence of a large number of streams and rivers, which have formed a lush vegetation with 13 additional lemur species, more than 110 bird species, a multitude of lizards, amphibians, reptiles and insects, and an extremely rich flora, particularly wild orchids.